Fear — or Don't Fear — the Blogger: 21 students, 22 blogs, 15 weeks. Learning in public at the University of Maryland. Watch what we do.

Blog Tracking

Each pair/team should choose 3 blogs to represent the type they are following for the assignment. For the presentation, identify the distinctive features of the type (i.e., tell us what makes a “sports blog” a sports blog? how is it different from other types of blogs?). Spend some time explaining why you chose the blogs you chose to represent the type, and then direct our attention to particular posts that caught your attention. Each team will have approximately 10 minutes to talk, so you will have time to bring the group into the conversation. The goal is to explore what particular, successful blogs can teach us about form, content, andcommunity in the blogosphere.

At least 24 hours in advance of the presentation, teams should do a post to the class blog with links to blogs you examined and recommendations on what to look at ahead of time. That way, your audience will be more prepared to respond to your observations and questions.

Presentations will be done in class on 2/8, 2/10, and 2/15.

Why do this? To immerse ourselves in the blogosphere, to get a sense of its variety and its continuity, to help you think about what particular niches or communities you might want to connect with in your own blogging, to study the available models to get a sense of what we like or don’t like, what works or doesn’t work – and to start thinking about how we make those judgments. What counts as success in the blogosphere? How do we know when we’re doing it right or well? You and your partner will bring examples into class that you found particularly valuable. They might be good or bad, but they taught you something. Let’s talk about what and why.

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2 Comments on “Blog Tracking”

For tomorrow, Jaccii and I will be discussing DIY/craft/green blogs. The three blogs we chose to discuss are: bakerella.com, puregreendesign.blogspot.com, and indieprettyprojects.com. Have fun exploring and see you tomorrow!

About:

This is the course blog for English 488B, Writing for the Blogosphere, taught in the Spring 2011 semester by Prof. Marilee Lindemann. The course focuses on the prehistory, theory, and practice of blogging.